U.S. UPR Review in 2020: Stakeholder Submissions Due October 3, 2019
Next year, the U.N. Human Rights Council will review the human rights obligations and commitments of the United States for the third time through its Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process. The U.S. review will take place on May 11, 2020 in Geneva.
Many of us are busy preparing Stakeholder Submissions, which are due by October 3, 2019. There is guidance on how to prepare and make a Stakeholder submission on the Office of the High Commissioner’s website. There are also many groups that are actively working to make sure the Council receives a diverse Stakeholder Submissions from across the U.S. For example, the U.S. Human Rights Network has been busy this summer putting on how-to webinars, organizing UPR Cities events, coordinating the drafting of submissions, and more.
This year, for the first time that I am aware of, the United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA) trained and encouraged its local chapters to host UPR consultations and draft Stakeholder Submissions. The UNA provided a UPR Local Consultation Toolkit, Media Advisory Templates, as well as a Stakeholder Submission template to any interested chapter. In addition, at its Global Leadership Summit in June 2019, the UNA held a UPR consultation and compiled members feedback into a Stakeholder Submission to be submitted to the Human Rights Council.
I attended the United Nations Association of St. Louis UPR Consultation last week and I was blown away by the hard work of the chapter leaders and high level participants they were able to attract. Participants included St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell and State Senator Jamilah Nasheed. The St. Louis chapter focused its consultation on the socioeconomic impact of the incarceration of African American women, with emphasis on trauma, education, diversion and re-entry within the criminal justice system. There are photos (and commentary) of the St. Louis event here.